Fusajiro Yamauchi

Fusajiro Yamauchi purchased this building which became Nintendo's first headquarters in 1889.

Fusajiro Yamauchi(JPJapanese: 山内房治郎) was the founder of Nintendo in 1889. He was born on November 22, 1859, and died in January of 1940 due to a stroke. He had a wife and daughter and lived in Kyoto, Japan. His great-grandchild, Hiroshi Yamauchi, took over the company in the fifties. Fusajiro Yamauchi died 7 years before the "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device" was patented in the United States.

History

The Japanese government banned most card games due to their association with gambling, though eventually they allowed the game known as Hanafuda. Whereas most card games featured numbers, Hanafuda was devoid of numerical symbols and instead had unique artwork. Hanafuda was introduced to Japan though wasn't too popular, and was generally thought to disappear as quickly as it arrived. Fusajiro Yamauchi, however, derived an idea to increase the game's popularity by developing cards with hand drawn illustrations. This quickly led to the growth of the card industry in Japan after he opened the doors to Nintendo Koppai, a name which went through various iterations before ultimately being shortened to just Nintendo. Eventually Fusajiro Yamauchi created a corporation which manufactured more than just cards, and finally in 1929 he retired and deemed his son in law Sekiryo Yamauchi his successor. Eleven years later he died of a stroke during World War II.